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FRIDAY OCTOBER 12, 2012 www.redbluffdailynews.com See Page 6A Breaking news at: Two Week Of Pre-Med Education Page RED BLUFF Giants Advance SPORTS 1B Weather forecast 10A Mostly sunny 71/52 DAILYNEWS TEHAMACOUNTY DAILY 50¢ T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Biden, Ryan clash often in VP debate DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — At odds early and often, Joe Biden and Republican Paul Ryan squab- bled over the economy, taxes, Medicare and more Thursday night in a contentious, interrup- tion-filled debate. ''That is a bunch of malarkey,'' the vice pres- ident retorted after a particularly tough Ryan attack on the adminis- tration's foreign policy. ''I know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think people would be better served if we don't interrupt each other,'' Ryan said later to his rival, referring to Democratic pressure on Biden to make up for President Barack Obama's listless perfor- mance in last week's debate with Mitt Romney. There was nothing listless this time as the 69-year-old Biden sat next to the 42-year old Wisconsin congressman on a stage at Centre College in Kentucky. House gutted by fire Ninety minutes after the initial disagreement over foreign policy, the two men clashed sharply over steps to reduce federal deficits. ''The president likes to say he has a plan,'' Ryan said, but in fact ''he gave a speech'' and never backed it up with details. Unprompted, he brought up the video in which Romney had Biden conceded Republicans indeed have a plan, but he said if it were enacted, it would have ''eviscerated all the things the middle class care about.'' The debate took place a little more than a week after Obama and Romney met in the first of their three debates — an encounter that has fueled a Republican comeback in opinion polls. With Democrats eager for Biden to show the spark the pres- ident lacked, he did so. said 47 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax, view them- selves as victims and do not take responsibility for their own lives. ''It's about time they take responsibility'' instead of signing pledges to avoid raising taxes, Biden said — of Romney, Ryan and the Republicans. The serial disagreements start- ed immediately after the smiles and handshakes of the opening. Ryan said in the debate's open- ing moments that U.S. Ambas- sador Chris Stevens had been denied sufficient security by administration officials. Stevens died in a terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11. ''Not a single thing he said is accurate,'' Democrat Biden shot back. Republicans and Democrats alike have said in recent days the presidential race now approxi- mates the competitive situation in place before the two political con- ventions. The two men are gener- ally separated by a point or two in national public opinion polls and in several battleground states, with Obama holding a slender lead in Ohio and Wisconsin. Local schools make the mark nia's schools met the statewide academic achievement goal in 2012, the highest number ever, the education department announced Thursday. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said 53 percent of schools met or surpassed the Acade- mic Performance Index target score of 800 this year, a 4 percentage point increase from last year. In Tehama County 13 schools reached the target. Those schools were Antelope Elementary, Berren- dos Middle, Bidwell Elementary, Evergreen Elemen- tary, Evergreen Middle, Flournoy Elementary, Kirk- wood Elementary, Lassen View Elementary, Lincoln Street Independent, Los Molinos Elementary, Reeds Creek Elementary, Richfield Elementary and Woodson LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than half of Califor- See MARK, page 9A Fireworks site voting extended By JULIE ZEEB Photo by Ross Palubeski Firefighters were sent to a fire reported at 5:23 p.m.Wednesday in the 15000 block of WillowLane Court, cross of The Oaks Drive, north of Red Bluff. By JULIE ZEEB DN Staff Writer Red Cross was called for two adults and two children following a structure fire reported at 5:23 p.m. Wednesday in the 15000 block of WillowLane Court, cross of The Oaks Drive, north of Red Bluff. The residents were displaced due to the amount of damage to the house, CalFire Public Information Officer Kevin Colburn said. The fire, which did $150,000 damage with a $400,000 save, was caused by children playing with fire, Colburn said. likely will not be since the fire was started by residents of the home and stayed contained to the house, Col- burn said. Citations for fires are usu- ally issued when fires are started on someone else's property or when they spread to someone else's property. The fire was contained by 8:34 No citations were issued and most additional engines along with a helicopter from CalFire's Vina Helitack for air support. CalFire, Red Bluff Fire and Tehama County Fire with volun- teers from the El Camino, Los Molinos, Dibble Creek and Ante- lope stations responded. p.m., however, resources were still on scene until 11:10 a.m. Thursday, a CalFire spokeswoman said. The first arriving unit reported smoke showing from the two-story house and because the fire was reported as being in the attic, the incident commander requested four Brown's Calif. tax initiative hit from both sides SACRAMENTO (AP) — After returning to the governor's office, Jerry Brown criticized a political culture he said lacked a common purpose and warned of a ''war of all against all'' unless the snip- ing camps learned to com- promise and fix California's persistent budget problems. Those efforts failed, and now the Democratic gover- nor finds himself fighting his own political battle as he tries to persuade voters to pass a $6 billion tax increase on the November ballot that he says is crucial for closing the state's deficit. With the election just a month away, Brown's initia- tive to boost the statewide sales tax by a quarter-cent and income taxes for those earning $250,000 a year or more is in jeopardy, primar- ily due to a wealthy brother and sister who are at oppo- site ends of the political spectrum, and Brown's own missteps. bad news for Brown's Proposition 30 and a com- peting tax initiative from Molly Munger, a liberal- leaning Los Angeles civil rights attorney who is the daughter of a billionaire executive for Warren Buf- fett's Berkshire Hathaway. She has spent $34 mil- The political slugfest is lion so far in support of Proposition 38, which would raise about $10 bil- 7 5 8 5 5 1 6 9 0 0 1 9 See TAX, page 9A A St. Elizabeth Community Hos- pital ambulance responded, but did not transport anyone from the scene, the spokeswoman said. ——— Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115 or jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @DN_Zeeb. Fireworks Committee has decided to extend voting for the location of the 2013 fireworks at least a few more weeks and pos- sibly longer. Voting, which started at the Beef N Brew and continued through the Tehama District Fair, is done by donating money to the can with the loca- tion of choice. "We decided to carry DN Staff Writer The Tehama County the voting on past fair so that everyone in Tehama County will have an opportunity to vote," Chairwoman Shannon Nason said. "Fair was an absolute blast. Even peo- ple from other counties gave donations." Tehama District Fair, the group had raised about $1,700 with River Park receiving the majority of votes at $1,262.88 to the Tehama District Fair- ground's $442.94, she said. By the end of the "I'm finding that my passion for having a fire- works show for the Fourth of July has not been dampened by the amount of work it requires," Nason said. "It really has been fueled by all the sup- port we have received so far. We have an absolutely amazing group of people on our committee who are beyond committed to make sure we raised the See VOTING, page 9A Beetle's status may be downgraded By RICH GREENE DN Staff Writer A species of beetle that held up a public works project earlier in the year may soon have its Endan- gered Species Act status downgraded from threat- ened to protected. Tehama County Board of Supervisors allotted $10,000 for the relocation of seven elderberry plants to move forward with the $7.5 million Bowman Road bridge project. The bushes had to be In February the removed and replanted in the Stillwater area as they were home to the valley elderberry longhorn bee- tle. Earlier this month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed chang- ing the beetle's status to threatened. In the process of doing so it opened up a 60-day public comment period for the proposal. The medium-sized red and dark green insect is US Fish and Wildlife Service photo about a half- to one-inch- long with arching long antennae and is found only in the Central Valley. It depends solely on elder- berry shrubs for food and shelter. It was listed as a threat- ened species in 1980 due to inadequate regulatory protection and the loss of habitat from agricultural and urban development largely attributed to flood control activities. At the time of the list- ing the beetle was known from only 10 occurrences at three locations along the American River, Putah Creek and the Merced River. Since then more than 200 occurrences at 26 locations ranging from Shasta to Kern County See STATUS, page 9A Soroptimist International Red Bluff Presents... Chocolate Fantasia 2012 The Red Bluff Community Center 1500 South Jackson Street Red Bluff, CA 96080 An evening of chocolate decadence! Saturday, October 13, 2012 6:30p.m. to 8:30p.m. Or by emailing: SIRedBluffClub@Yahoo.com Proceeds benefit the SIRB Scholarship Fund Available by calling: (530) 524-2133 Tickets: $20.00 Donation